Emerging solar technologies such as organic photovoltaic devices (OPVs) and thin film solar cells like Copper Indium Gallium di-Selenide (CIGS) require protection from water vapor and need to be durable (e.g., to ultra-violet (UV) light) in outdoor environments. Typically, glass has been used as an encapsulating material for such solar devices because glass is a very good barrier to water vapor, is optically transparent, and is stable to UV light. However, glass is heavy, brittle, difficult to make flexible, and difficult to handle. There has been interest in developing transparent flexible encapsulating materials to replace glass that will not share the drawbacks of glass but have glass-like barrier properties and UV stability, and a number of flexible barrier films have been developed that approach the barrier properties of glass.
Solar devices are used outdoors, and so are exposed to the elements, including wind, water and sunlight. Water penetration into solar panels has been a long-standing problem. Solar panels may also be deleteriously affected by wind and sunlight.
Many flexible barrier films are multi-layer film laminates. Any multi-layer film laminate has the potential for delamination, especially at the edges. Reducing delamination at the edges will improve overall performance of the barrier films.